THE PANAGBENGA 2018 GRAND FLOAT PARADE

BAGUIO CITY June The City Council approved a resolution strongly requesting all the newly elected barangay and Sangguniang Kabataan (SK) officials in the city to strengthen and intensify their Barangay Anti-Drug Abuse Council (BADAC) programs on anti-illegal drug campaign to achieve a drug free city.

The resolution authored by Vice Mayor Edison R. Bilog stated that considering the alarming report that the city's drug affected barangays increased from 6 to 24, the newly elected barangay and SK officials in the city's 128 barangays need to strengthen and intensify their BADAC programs on anti-illegal drugs to make Baguio a drug-free city.

The resolution added barangay and SK officials have the principal responsibility in supporting the national and local government efforts to address peace and order, particularly to curb illegal drugs and illegal substances in their areas of jurisdiction to guarantee the safety and security of their constituents.

Further, the resolution noted the barangay and SK officials could assist the law enforcement agencies to strategize the implementation of the appropriate measures to neutralize the presence of drug personalities in the barangays to maintain their classification as drug free barangays pursuant to the parameters crafted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA).

Last year, there were only 6 drug-affected barangays in the city based on the evaluation and assessment of law enforcement and anti-narcotics agencies but as of the end of May this year, the number of drug affected barangays in the city increased to 24 after the Regional Oversight Committee on Anti-Illegal Drugs elevated the classification of some 18 barangays in the city to drug-affected following the reported resurgence of illegal drugs in the said places.

The resolution stipulated that as soon as the new set of barangay and SK officials shall have assumed their office on June 30, 2018, one of the important tasks they have to undertake is the strengthening and intensification of their anti-drug initiatives to help curb illegal drugs in their places to help in downgrading the classification of their barangays from drug-affected to drug-cleared.

Despite the unrelenting and uncompromising efforts of government agencies and the local government to curb illegal drugs in the city's 128 barangays, Baguio still remains a transhipment area of shabu from the lowlands to their markets in the region and marijuana from the hinterlands of the Cordillera to their desired markets in the lowlands.

Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan urged barangay officials to spearhead the profiling of their constituents to know who are the people living in their barangays and to pinpoint the transient residents so that it will be easy for them to determine those who are involved in alleged illegal activities that could compromise the city's peace and order situation in the city.